Aging Population (solution?)

So this post is linked to the previous one. While in this, I would like to talk about one interesting aid that I found on the web that helps the elderly in San Diego.

In San Diego, there is a non-profit organisation called ElderHelp that have a lot of on going programs that allow the elderly to lead a more sustainable and happier life. One of the program is called HomeShare.
So, what exactly is HomeShare?

HomeShare is a program that allows elderly to remain in their homes and in the communities they know and love by offering adults of all age, who are in need of housing, to live with the elderly. These ensure that the elderly will be safe as there is more than one person in the home and provides companionship for the elderly. It also acts as an additional income for home providers and affordable rent for home seekers. (HomeShare, 2013)

However, there are also criteria and requirements for one to be eligible for rental. This will ensure that they people coming on board to stay with the elderly are of suitable match. It is very much like renting in Singapore. The agency, which in this case, ElderHelp, will help the adults to look for a home that matches their criteria. After finding a match, they will meet up with the home providers and discuss more in details.

The result of this program is stated as a success in the press release of ElderHelp. ElderHelp state that nearly 2000 people received housing consultation. 50 matches were successfully facilitated, all involving a senior 55 years and older. Each match has an economic or service benefit to the senior through room rentals and service exchange arrangements. 100% of all matches involved at least one person of low, very low, or extremely low income. The average length of matches is steadily increasing, currently to 1.5 years, and many far exceeding this number. (HomeShare, 2013)

Read more at http://www.elderhelpofsandiego.org/programs-and-services/homeshare/

So why can't this be done in Singapore? I will share more about my opinions about this in the next post. 

Aging population?

I know that this blog is about social enterprises and social innovations, but today I just felt like posting something else. Sort of like a social issues and my thought on it.

So yesterday I was on the way back from doing project and I witnessed an incident.

I was exiting from Dhoby Ghaut Mrt station around late afternoon. On my left, was the escalator up to Dhoby xchange and my right was the escalator down to the Mrt station. There was approximately a good 100 metres wide of stairs in between these 2 escalators. Midway through the escalator up, I began to hear a cry. It wasn't like the normal cry. It sounded confused, terrified and helpless and it was inaudible, like "ergh, urgh". I turned to my right and say this old uncle grabbing onto the side of the escalator with only half of his head visible. I was so shocked, he looked so scared and old. Around the age of 80+?. Then a lady ran down, shortly followed by a man to assist him. I didn't know what was going on, I guess he tripped on the escalator and couldn't get up. He just kept crying out and it was so traumatizing. He sounded so scared. When I reached to the top of the escalator, I saw the lady at the bottom the the escalator trying to pull something out. I was petrified. I think it was the uncle's item or that the uncle is stuck there. I don't know what. I couldn't see because a crowd was gathering and all of us was so surprised. Until a lady shouted "hey! the emergency button!" Then someone quickly acted and stopped the escalator from moving. It all happened so fast.

It such a traumatizing incident. & it was not the first time experience for me. Before, I experienced it first hand, being caught on the moving escalator because an old lady fell while trying to get off. It was such a horrifying experience. The escalator just kept moving up and people where stacking on each other. Its like domino effect. It was crazy, everyone just kept shouting and crossing over each other. The old lady was beneath me and screaming. I was trying so hard not to press on her and crawl my way out before helping her out. It was really really horrible.

After I saw the uncle, which led to recalling my first experience, I thought 'hey, do these kind of things happen a lot in Singapore?'
With us being an aging population, there will definitely be a lot of these cases happening. Why so? Are we going to say that because we are experiencing aging population so an increase of such incidents are inevitable? I felt that if there was someone accompanying the elderly out, we can prevent such incidents to happening. Someone younger will be able to keep a lookout for the elderly. But how? I think this is something we should all 
think about.